Does Technology Ruin Romance?

More often than not, couples in public settings are locked in intimate conversations with each other. Some couples, however, sit face-to-face but both of them are engrossed in their own smartphones chatting with someone on Facebook, or checking the latest tweets from their favorite Hollywood celebrity. This instance once again raises an argument that has sprouted in this digital age we're currently living in: is technology ruining relationships?

Digital devices reportedly ruin intimate relationships imperceptibly, meaning it changes us on a physiological level, according to Huffington Post. Relationships are guided by two important hormones: dopamine, the hormone of pleasure; and oxytocin, the hormone of bonding. Eating chocolates, having sex, social recognition, and other things that excite us release dopamine.

With the boom of the digital age, sources of dopamine have also increased. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms have provided us tools to acquire social acceptance. Some studies found that couples who have iPads in their bedrooms have little to almost no sex life. This means that our brains have been wired to crave for easy pleasure on the Internet than engage into sexual activities with our partners, Huffington Post wrote.

Oxytocin, on the other hand, rises through physical touches, sharing significant experiences, and when people are wholly present for each other, Huffington Post added. When you are distracted with a gadget, the quality of your bonding also disintegrates. In addition, when your brain is loaded with nonstop information (which happens when you're always browsing the Web), it has no time to grow higher emotions such as empathy and compassion, which spend more time to process information.

75 percent of women believe that their digital devices ruin intimacy and their relationships, the news outlet added. Couples who are absorbed in social media activities are likely to develop conflicts with each other, depression, and lower life satisfaction. It's more possible that younger people develop strain in their relationships over technology use.

Technology also serves a huge role in the collapse of relationships, the Sydney Morning Herald wrote. According to family mediators, marriage counselors, and divorce lawyers, technology precipitates 50 percent of failing relationships, given that it provides hard proof of cheating. Secret communications of infidelity can now be caught on iPads, laptops, and cell phones thanks to the digital cloud.

"It's the modern-day version of lipstick on the collar, except it's a lot more explicit and a lot more evidentiary," Matt Garrett from Relationships Australia said, as quoted by SMH. "It's far more difficult to conceal these aspects of your private life."

In majority of the cases, one partner is already suspicious of the other's infidelity. With the help of technology, concrete evidence can now be presented when they confront their cheating partners, the news outlet added.

Technology isn't necessarily bad; its purpose is to make human life and communication easier. However, it's up to us people how we respond to it. If we let technology consume and dictate our everyday lives, then chances are it won't do us - and our relationships with others -- much good.